Back in January, Hot Rize celebrated their 40 years as a band, with three special sold-out shows in Colorado at the Boulder Theater. The legendary quartet, which features Pete Wernick (banjo), Tim O’Brien (mandolin, fiddle), Bryan Sutton (guitar) and Nick Forster (bass) garnered the Entertainer of the Year award at the first International Bluegrass Music Association Awards in 1990 and remains a vital entity. Over three nights from January 12-14 Hot Rize explored their catalog alongside special guests Sam Bush (mandolin), Jerry Douglas (dobro), and Stuart Duncan (fiddle).

The group has now picked the highlights from their three night-stand to be released as a 19-song album titled Hot Rize 40^th Anniversary Bash. Today we share the version of “Colleen Malone” from the forthcoming record, which also features Jerry Douglas.

Peter Wernick tells Relix, “I learned this touching and lyrical song from the writer himself, Pete Goble, on his bus one day at a festival in the 1980s. The band like it right away and our version became Song of the Year in 1991. It already seems to have become a standard at bluegrass jam sessions.”